For more than 25 years, I've coached negotiations worth billions for multinationals, governments, and leaders around the world. In 2010, I founded the Camp Negotiation Institute, the first institution to offer certification training in the Camp Negotiation System to students from more than two dozen countries worldwide. I am also the author of two bestselling books published by Crown, Start with No, and NO: The Only Negotiation System You Need for Work and Home, which have been translated into 12 languages, as well as a 6-CD audio-program called "The Power of No," published by Nightingale-Conant. I have appeared on CNN and CNBC, and been interviewed, quoted, and featured in such financial publications as Wall Street Journal, Inc., Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Fortune, and Fast Company. I was a featured panelist at Harvard's 2012 Negotiation and Leadership Conference. My newest endeavor is Negotiator-Pro (www.negotiator-pro.com), the world's most complete negotiation platform for individuals and corporations.

What C. Everett Koop Can Teach Us about Negotiating

C. Everett Koop, the U.S. surgeon general who became a renowned conduit of information on the harmful effects of smoking, unwittingly provided a valuable lesson for negotiators: how to address subject matter most people consider negative and would prefer to not know about.

Three decades ago Koop took on a challenging topic – the dangers of nicotine – that lots of smokers were unwilling to wrap their heads around. Why even go there? As surgeon general, Koop knew it was the responsible thing to do. In effect, his responsibility fueled his mission and purpose: to give consumers accurate information about a serious health problem.

Sure, Koop’s demeanor and speaking voice, characterized by a calm, reassuring tone, was a factor in getting people with no intention of giving up smokes to at least listen to what the man had to say. But, in the end, in many smokers’ minds, the message was too negative to handle.

Which brings me to the subject of negotiation – something that many people automatically associate as a negative thing. Many companies believe that formal negotiations – a group of people gathered around a large conference-room table – are necessary only because two or more parties couldn’t come to a casual agreement, usually about pricing and money, over the phone. The very thought of negotiating often generates emotional outbursts and fears about failure and losing face.

Here’s where Koop and his sense of responsibility to the public about health can set us straight.

In our negotiation training, people are taught that embracing our responsibility helps enormously to ensure success. First, if you’ve got a product or service you’re proud of, you’ve already embraced responsibility by making it the best product or service around. If you’ve built your brand around that responsibility, you’ll use it at the negotiation table as you stand firm on why your widget will solve the potential buyer’s problem.

Second, as a company, you also have a responsibility to be profitable. If you’re unprofitable, you’ll go under. Walking away from the table because you refuse to undervalue your product and services – valuing your brand stems from your sense of responsibility as a manufacturer or knowledge expert – is often the most responsible thing you can do.

Caving in, compromising, and taking whatever the other side offers you are actions that are often rationalized as being flexible. Nothing can be further from the truth. Taking less than what is appropriate is irresponsible.

The trick here, of course, is knowing what you stand for at a negotiation. Many companies I work with initially believe they know exactly what and why they’re negotiating. However, when they analyze and determine what their responsibilities are, these companies become aware of their true mission and purpose. I ask my clients: “How can you solve the real problem if you don’t identify it, no matter how negative or challenging it seems to be?”

Koop probably believed that, as surgeon general, he was simply carrying out the duties of his job as responsibly as he could, even when he delivered a message he knew would ruffle some feathers. He may not have perceived himself as a negotiator. However, the way he conducted himself provides a huge lesson in how negotiators can connect responsibility with successful negotiation outcome.

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This article is by Jim Camp, the founder and chief executive of the Camp Negotiation Institute, a negotiation training organization, and author of Start with No: The Negotiating Tools that the Pros Don’t Want You to Know and NO: The Only System of Negotiation You Need for Work or Home.

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